December 31, 2004

Canada Reports Suspected Mad Cow Case

Canadian food safety officials reported a possible case of mad cow disease involving a dairy cow.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said results of preliminary tests completed late Wednesday for mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, have identified a suspect 10-year-old dairy cow.

"Although the finding is not definitive, multiple screening tests have yielded positive results," the agency said in a statement.

"Confirmatory results are expected in three to five days," it added.

The agency stressed that "no part of the animal entered the human food or animal feed systems," noting that samples were being analyzed at the Canadian Science Center for Human and Animal Health in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The Canadian government's policy up to now had been to announce only confirmed cases of the disease, but the agency said it opted for a more "prudent" approach this time "given the unique situation created by the United States' border announcement on December 29."

The United States said Wednesday it would resume conditional imports of live Canadian cattle early next year, following a year-and-a-half hiatus caused by a case of mad cow disease discovered in Canada.

The purchases would be subject to multiple restrictions, outlined in a 500-page manual, designed to minimize the risk of BSE, a degenerative disease that can be dangerous to humans if tainted meat is consumed, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Wednesday.